Bailly, Jean-Sylvain

Jean-Sylvain Bailly, (born September 15, 1736, Paris—died November 12, 1793, Paris), French statesman noted for his role in the French Revolution, particularly in leading the Tennis Court Oath, and astronomer noted for his computation of an orbit for Halley’s Comet (1759) and for his studies of the four satellites of Jupiter then known.

Bailly began his study of Halley’s Comet in 1759. One year later he established an observatory where he could undertake observations of Jupiter’s satellites. He was elected to the Académie des Sciences in 1763. His major works include Essai sur la théorie des satellites de Jupiter (1766; “Essay on the Theory of Jupiter’s Satellites”) and Mémoires sur les inégalités de la lumière des satellites de Jupiter (1771; “Memoirs on the Uneven Illumination of Jupiter’s Satellites”).

Later in his career Bailly wrote widely read histories of astronomy: Histoire de l’astronomie ancienne depuis son origine jusqu’à l’établissement de l’école d’Alexandrie (1775; “History of Ancient Astronomy from Its Origin to the Establishment of the School of Alexandria”) and Histoire de l’astronomie moderne depuis la fondation de l’école d’Alexandrie, jusqu’à l’époque de M.D.CC.XXX (1779; “History of Modern Astronomy from the Foundation of the School of Alexandria to the Epoch 1730”). However, these were soon superceded by the more scholarly histories of French astronomer Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre. Bailly’s Traité de l’astronomie indienne et orientale (1787; “Treatise on Indian and Oriental Astronomy”) was part of a wave of 18th-century interest in the history and methods of non-Western astronomy. In 1784 Bailly was a member of a royal commission (headed by his friend American ambassador Benjamin Franklin) appointed to investigate the claims of animal magnetism made by German physician Franz Mesmer and was the author of the report concluding that Mesmer’s magnetic fluid probably did not exist and that the effects on his human subjects were likely due to imagination and imitation.

The French Revolution interrupted Bailly’s studies. Elected deputy from Paris to the Estates-General, he was chosen president of the Third Estate on May 5, 1789, and led the famous proceedings in the Tennis Court on June 20, in which the Third Estate deputies took an oath not to separate until a written constitution had been established for France. He was proclaimed the first mayor of Paris on July 15, 1789. He was reelected mayor in August 1790 but lost popularity, particularly after his order to the national guard to disperse a riotous crowd led to the massacre of the Champ de Mars on July 17, 1791. Bailly retired on November 16, 1791, and went to Nantes in July 1792, where he composed Mémoires d’un témoin de la Révolution (“Memoirs of a Witness of the Revolution”), an incomplete narrative of the extraordinary events of his public life up to October 1789. After the siege of Nantes by the Vendéans, Bailly went to Melun in July 1793 to join his friend, scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace, but he was soon recognized and arrested. He was taken to Paris, where he appeared as a witness at the trial of Marie-Antoinette and defended the deposed queen. He wrote a pamphlet J.S. Bailly à ses concitoyens (“J.S. Bailly to His Fellow Citizens”) about his actions as mayor of Paris and at Marie-Antoinette’s trial. He was taken before the revolutionary tribunal at Paris on November 10 and was guillotined two days later.